Events in History Relating to Music
October 6, 1600
Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, receives its première performance in Florence, signifying the beginning of the Baroque Period
February 24, 1607
L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance.
March 2, 1717
The Loves of Mars and Venus becomes the first ballet performed in England.
January 8, 1734
Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
February 21, 1743
The premiere of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, "Samson" takes place in London.
April 27, 1749
First performance of Handel's Fireworks Music in Green Park, London.
November 17, 1771
Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15.
November 4, 1783
W.A. Mozart's Symphony No. 36 receives its première performance in Linz, Austria.
May 1, 1786
Opening night of the opera The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna, Austria.
November 7, 1786
The oldest musical organization in the United States is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.
October 29, 1787
Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague.
September 30, 1791
The Magic Flute, the last opera composed by Mozart receives its premiere performance at Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, Austria.
April 25, 1792
La Marseillaise (French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
April 7, 1805
First public performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony (Eroica).
December 22, 1808
The premiere of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, Fifth and Sixth symphonies amongst other pieces.
May 7, 1824
World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the deaf composer's supervision.
May 23, 1829
Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna.
February 11, 1840
Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Régiment receives its first performance in Paris.
September 5, 1840
Premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Un giorno di regno at La Scala of Milan.
February 11, 1843
Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi receives its first performance in Milan.
March 13, 1845
Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.
September 11, 1847
Stephen Foster's well-known song, Oh! Susanna, is first performed at a saloon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
March 6, 1853
Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata receives its premiere performance in Venice.
January 25, 1858
The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.
January 30, 1858
The first Hallé concert is given in Manchester, England, marking the official founding of the Hallé Orchestra as a full-time, professional orchestra.
March 5, 1868
Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito receives its première performance at La Scala.
December 26, 1871
Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.
March 3, 1875
Georges Bizet's opera Carmen receives its première at the Opéra Comique of Paris.
November 17, 1876
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's patriotic Slavonic March is given its première performance in Moscow, to a warm reception by the Russian people.
March 4, 1877
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its première performance at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
May 25, 1878
Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
October 1, 1880
John Philip Sousa becomes leader of the United States Marine Band.
March 20, 1888
The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia.
June 29, 1888
First (known) recording of classical music, Handel's "Israel in Egypt", made on a wax cylinder.
October 28, 1893
Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique, receives its premiere performance in St. Petersburg, only nine days before the composer's death.
December 16, 1893
Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, "From The New World" is given its world première at Carnegie Hall.
December 23, 1893
The opera Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.
February 11, 1903
Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna.
January 17, 1904
Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
January 25, 1909
Richard Strauss' opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
September 12, 1910
Premiere performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in Munich (with a chorus of 852 singers and an orchestra of 171 players. Mahler's rehearsal assistant conductor was Bruno Walter)
January 26, 1911
Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
November 7, 1912
The Deutsche Opernhaus (now Deutsche Oper Berlin) opens in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg, with a production of Beethoven's Fidelio.
May 29, 1913
Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, provoking a riot.
February 26, 1917
The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first ever jazz record for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.
October 10, 1919
Richard Strauss' opera Die Frau ohne Schatten receives its debut performance in Vienna.
October 8, 1928
Joseph Szigeti gives the first performance of Alfredo Casella's Violin Concerto.
April 9, 1939
Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after being denied the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.
April 20, 1939
Billie Holiday records the first Civil Rights song "Strange Fruit".
February 11, 1941
First Gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
September 27, 1942
Glenn Miller and his Orchestra perform for the last time before Miller enters the US Army.
March 20, 1948
With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC.
December 30, 1948
The Cole Porter Broadway musical, Kiss Me, Kate (1,077 performances), opens at the New Century Theatre and becomes the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award.
March 21, 1952
Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.
November 14, 1952
The first regular UK singles chart published by the New Musical Express.
May 10, 1954
Bill Haley & His Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts.
May 24, 1956
The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland
June 5, 1956
Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.
March 24, 1958
Elvis Presley is officially inducted into the U.S.Army.
April 13, 1958
Van Cliburn is the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
February 11, 1964
The Beatles hold their first concert in the United States at the Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C.
April 4, 1964
The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
April 26, 1965
A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario is shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting.
July 29, 1966
Bob Dylan is injured in a motorcycle accident near Woodstock, New York.
May 12, 1967
At Queen Elizabeth Hall, England, Pink Floyd stages the first-ever quadraphonic rock concert.
June 1, 1967
The groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album by The Beatles is released
June 16, 1967
The three-day Monterey International Pop Music Festival begins in Monterey, California.
September 8, 1968
The Beatles perform their last live TV performance on the David Frost show. They perform their new hit Hey Jude.
September 27, 1968
The stage musical Hair opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, where it played 1,998 performances until its closure was forced by the roof's collapsing in July 1973.
January 30, 1969
The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
March 25, 1969
During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).
September 26, 1969
The Beatles release their last studio album, Abbey Road. To some fans it is the last release of the band, instead of Let It Be which came out in 1970 shortly before their break-up.
October 10, 1969
King Crimson releases their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, considered by many to be the first progressive rock album.
February 13, 1970
Black Sabbath, arguably the very first heavy metal album, is released.
June 13, 1970
"The Long and Winding Road" becomes the Beatles' last Number 1 song.
February 15, 1972
Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.
December 3, 1976
An assassination attempt is made on Bob Marley. He is shot twice, but plays a concert two days later.
July 8, 1977
The ashes of Ahn Eak-tai, a Korean conductor and the composer of the national anthem Aegukga, are transferred from the island of Majorca to the Korean National Cemetery.
October 7, 1982
Cats opens on Broadway and runs for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000.
November 30, 1982
U.S Pop Icon Michael Jackson releases his 6th studio album ,"Thriller", which will later go on to be the biggest selling album of all time.
May 1, 1983
Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.
April 19, 1984
Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
November 25, 1984
36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
April 20, 1986
Pianist Vladimir Horowitz performs in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years.
October 9, 1986
The musical The Phantom of the Opera has its first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.
January 26, 1988
Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera has its first performance on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre in New York.
April 23, 1988
Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon leaves the charts for the first time after spending a record of 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years) on the Billboard 200.
June 6, 1990
U.S. District court judge Jose Gonzales rules that the rap album As Nasty As They Wanna Be by 2 Live Crew violates Florida's obscenity law; he declares that the predominant subject matter of the record is "directed to the 'dirty' thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind."
November 19, 1990
Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It’s True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.
November 1, 1993
The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
May 29, 1999
Charlotte Perrelli wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 for Sweden in Jerusalem, Israel with the song Take Me to Your Heaven.
April 14, 2000
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich files a lawsuit against P2P sharing phenomenon Napster. This law-suit eventually leads the movement against file-sharing programs.
February 1, 2004
Janet Jackson's breast is exposed during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, resulting in US broadcasters adopting a stronger adherence to FCC censorship guidelines.
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